


with our backs to the wall the darkness will fall (we never quite thought we could lose it all)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: dares to claim the sky [4]
Category: Lab Rats (TV 2012), Lab Rats: Elite Force (TV)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Father figures, Blood, Character Death, Character Study, Dark, Dubious Morality, F/F, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Justice, Lesbian Character, Let my children be happy, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Oops?, Parenthood, Siblings, Survivor Guilt, Unreliable Narrator, War, Weddings, and sometimes you think there's a point to it, and the okay ones who at least try, but sometimes you can't find one, but yeah i'm still the horrible shit who had plot development, oh wait i'm the author who's making them sad, war changes people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:22:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: An interlude: the years of the Bionic War.





	1. Bree Davenport: The Commander

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Ready, Aim, Fire" by Imagine Dragons.

_"In the ruins behind my house, I found the ruins of a softer world._

_Kindness couldn't save them."_

**_-e horne and j comeau_ **

 

It has been three years since this war began and there are so many deaths under Bree's fingers. She has killed in the name of this war. She has blood staining her soul that no bleach could ever remove.

Bree is a co-commander of her side of the war. Her and Oliver share the duties of leading the team that used to be Chase's, and are now Skylar's in the "official" Elite Force. They balance each other pretty well, but it's not the same as when Chase was guiding the missions.

(The loss of Chase is like losing a tooth and constantly being reminded of the loss when your tongue hits the emptiness- except no, it's not like losing a tooth, it's like getting socked in the jaw and getting half of your teeth knocked out of your gums, ripping out your ability to perform most vital functions.

Losing Chase is not a loss that can be healed easily, and maybe not even healed at all.)

Bree and Oliver have just one advantage on Chase: they are far more ruthless in this war than he ever was on missions. They have both lost their brothers, two of the men they love most. Bree looks Oliver in the eye and knows that he feels the same way she does: part broken, part furious, part insane.

There are dead things in the eyes of war leaders, in the eyes of people who have turned themselves into weapons. She is no longer a superhero, no matter how just her cause may be.

The world calls her villain and she isn’t sure they’re not half-right.

-

Leo and Adam join their side, and Bree pulls each of them into a hug that she wishes could last a thousand years.

She was a sister when she vowed justice over Chase’s death and Kaz’s torture, but she is also a sister when she cleaves to her brothers, pressing her face into their shoulders and waiting for her body to stop shaking.

Bree is a general and she is a weapon and she is a girl, seeking comfort in any way that she can take it.

"We'll make things right," Leo says, and somewhere in the past decade the boy who bumbled his way into their basement has grown up. She doesn't know how she missed it, but it happened.

"We promise," Adam says, and something simiilar has happened with him, but instead of growing up physically Adam has grown emotionally. Just like with Leo, she doesn't know when it happened- both probably happened when they were working the Bionic Island- but she is now faced with a brother with steel behind his eyes. She never thought Adam capable of it back in the day.

Daniel comes out of his room and spots Leo, Adam, and Bree. "Mind if I grab a hug too?" Daniel asks.

Bree doesn't let go, but she does say, "Of course." A moment later, Bree feels another pressure against her side as Daniel wraps his arms around them her and Leo.

And for a moment, things actually feel somewhat okay. She may have lost a brother and a brother-in-law, may be fighting both her fathers, but she still has Leo and Adam and Daniel and Alex. Her family is broken, but it's not destroyed. 

-

Bree kisses her wife and Alex's lips don't taste like blood, despite the fact that Alex has killed plenty.

“It is justice,” Alex says as she mouths at Bree's collarbone, kisses her way across Bree’s face, and Bree nods, returning her kisses with just as much fervor.

“This is for Chase and Kaz,” Bree says, “We're not going to let any other heroes die because their techs didn't care enough to warn them."

-

Their team doesn't wear uniforms anymore. That would get them caught almost immediately, after all. So instead, they wear thrifted clothes that don't remotely tie the team to each other, dress in clothing designed to blend in rather than mark them out as extraordinary.

They work odd jobs to raise the money today for the utility bills on their house tucked away in the mountains, occasionally taking wads of money that Tasha smuggles to them.

They are no longer the protected children and wards of billionaires; they are soldiers, fighters, desperate for justice and willing to do whatever it takes to get it.

-

(There was a funeral with no body, a gravestone with no grave underneath, and Bree just wanted to _scream_ because her little brother was dead, and her brother-in-law was broken, and it wasn't supposed to happen this way-

She saw Principal Perry there, dressed in a black pantsuit like it was just any other day.)

A year after the funeral, once lines in the sand have been drawn and have been violated, when a war has exploded into being, Principal Perry finds Bree and Leo at the door to a safe house.

“I have killed men,” Perry jokes, only it's not a joke, because Bree recognizes the look in her eyes as the one she sees in the mirror. She knows what a woman looks like when she's killed people.

“You want my help?”

Leo smiles. “Glad to have you, Terry Cherry Perry.”

And it speaks to the seriousness of everything, the death and destruction surrounding them, that Perry’s only response is a grim smile and a nod.

-

Daniel- Bree’s littlest brother, who’s only twenty-years-old- dies in a skirmish in New York. He was supposed to be safe, supposed to survive, supposed to be the Davenport who had a _chance_ -

Bree nearly thinks that heroism is hereditary, that there is something that makes the children of Douglas and Donald Davenport waste their lives trying to save others and make things right, but then she thinks of Donald and Douglas themselves, who led to Daniel’s death, and the thought disappears.

Heroism can’t be hereditary if it means fathers killing their sons, uncles killing their nephews.

-

Bree’s the one who tells Daniel’s girlfriend that he died. Bree holds Chyna as she sobs, and Bree wonders how many hearts are breaking across the country, how many bionic heroes and superheroes will have to die before this war will be over.

When Chyna volunteers to turn her National Tour- because she’s a singer, and a pretty famous one at that- into a surveillance operation, Bree can see the flint in her eyes.

War files away at people’s softness, turning them into blades. Chyna is no superhero, carries no powers, but the same steel enters her spine that straightens the rest of the team’s.

Bree almost grieves for lost innocence, but can't find it in herself to do so. War has stolen much from her, and she doesn't remember what it's like not to be a weapon.

She just hopes that the same thing won't happen to Chyna. 

-

Somewhere along the line, Bree hears that Douglas has stopped working with the Elite Force, that he has limited himself to just his own personal experiments unrelated to war and destruction, and she's not sure how to feel. She doesn't know if she should forgive him- if she even has the capability for forgiveness anymore- but she finds herself with small, wretched hopes for the first time in ages.

Maybe their family isn't splintered beyond repair. Maybe when this war ends, she'll still have at least one father left.

(Or maybe things have been completely destroyed. Maybe war is a bomb in itself, exploding families and severing bonds between those who love each other.)

-

They face Skylar herself at the head of a team of Elite superheroes. The battle ends with Leo going almost completely deaf and yet another death close to Bree: Bob goes down in a hail of plasma blasts.

Bree can't summon up tears anymore, but her heart still sinks. Yet another death, yet another body, yet another senseless slaughter in this war that she wishes had ended years ago- 

- 

The war ends. It ends, there's a peace treaty, and there are dozens of graves.

_Bob. Daniel. Chase._

Three dead heroes- three dead _boys_ , dead before their time. And for what? For a war that Oliver started, yes, but only because Mr. Davenport refused to properly protect the superheroes under his wing.

Chase died first, because of a mistake, because shifters managed to overpower Mr. Davenport's surveillance cameras-

And then they'd begged to go after Chase and Kaz, to track down the shifters, and Mr. Davenport- Mr. Davenport had said no, that there were more important things, but there is nothing more important than family. 

Then Daniel had died, and then Bob, and Bree still can't handle the injustice of it all.

-

Bree risks visiting Chase's empty grave only once, and her half-maintained sanity nearly crumbles. An entire war has been waged in the seven years since they found Kaz, since they buried an empty coffin  _because Chase had been so destroyed there was no body-_

She blinks open her eyes and finds herself kneeling next to Chase's grave, a scream trapped in her throat. She wants to run, to rage, to fight-

But it's over, for whatever that means. She is so tired, something vital inside her broken and caving open. There's nothing Bree can do to bring Chase back. There never was, really, but a war had been a pretty good distraction from such a fact.

Now, there is nothing to think about but Chase's death, and Kaz's mutism, and the fact that they never tracked down the people who captured Kaz and Chase-

Their captors. That's it.

- 

Now all Bree has to focus on is tracking down the bastards who tortured Kaz and killed Chase, and her single-minded concentration is a dangerous one.

She has such fury and sorrow boiling inside of her that she can't get rid of. Punching bags do nothing to sooth her thirst for justice after her fists have fought a war. 

She's going to find those monsters and she's going to make them _pay_. 


	2. Douglas Davenport: The Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I realized that Douglas was honestly a pretty caring father. When it came to connecting with the children, to caring about their safety and wanting to keep them healthy and happy- that was Douglas. Even when he was trying to capture them, Douglas always made certain to keep them alive and unharmed.
> 
> Also, the whole shebang with Giselle and Marcus didn't happen in this 'verse- Giselle didn't happen in 'Bionic Island.' She 'killed' Chase when the Elite Force was a thing, and then that was the end of her plot.

To be honest, Chase was always the one of Douglas’ children that he connected with most. He loved Adam and Bree, don’t get him wrong, but they were so different from Douglas in personality and hobbies that he never truly connected with them.

Chase, on the other hand, was like him. Chase was bitter with denied jealousy, mind brilliant and geeky and too interested in the things that would get him hurt.

Chase fell in love with men who hurt him and opened his heart to betrayal. Douglas heard what happened with Sebastian and couldn't help but compare it to his own experiences with Krane, the ways that Krane had turned his heart into a husk and turned Douglas into a shell of the man he had been. Douglas was so happy that Chase didn't end up as twisted as he had, that he had fought back against Sebastian and saved the day. Chase was so much stronger than Douglas ever was.

Douglas hoped that Chase would someday find someone who would love him like he deserved to be loved.

And then, one day, Chase found that. Douglas wasn't entirely certain what made Chase fall in love with Kaz- sure, Kaz was a hero, but a bit of an idiot at times and prone to bad jokes and even worse pranks- but all Douglas cared about was the fact that Kaz obviously loved and cared about every part of Chase's heart. As long as Chase was dating someone that loved him as much as he loved them, then Douglas would sign any measure of approval he had to.

After so many years of fuck ups, all he wanted was for his children to be happy.

-

Getting to attend Chase’s wedding had felt like the welcome culmination of a lifetime of regrets. 

Bree’s wedding the year before had been much more dramatic, with lots more flowers and a far larger dance floor. (Made sense with both of the brides having super speed.) Chase and Kaz, on the other hand, keep it pretty low-key- just the Elite Force, their families, and a couple of odd friends thrown in. It’s a far more intimate affair, with the only strange thing the fact that there was a small fire constantly hovering above the cake, not burning anything, rather than a typical cake-topper. (Douglas doesn’t blame the two grooms, though- with the extent of their superpowers, that’s pretty damn low-key.)

The night was joyous, though- the grooms were clearly in love. Though they each danced with pretty much everyone there, every moment they spent apart they were caught stealing glances at each other, sending winks and flirtatious looks across the room.

Douglas had looked at his son and been so proud. Douglas knew he fucked up in love- to see Chase get the happy ending he didn't get was a pretty satisfying moment.

-

Then Chase and Kaz disappear five years later and Douglas' world collapses around him.

There was no way to rescue Chase from an avalanche that Douglas couldn't stop from falling. He didn’t see this coming, wasn't able to predict Chase and Kaz getting captured on what should have been a routine mission.

Even after Kaz turns back up, Douglas doesn’t stop searching for Chase. Even when an unidentifiable body turns up in the same gas station they found Kaz in, even when Chase has a funeral and a war breaks out, Douglas keeps searching. His fingers grasp at every clue that crosses their computers. He scrabbles desperately for years, as a war breaks out around him and his family goes up in flames.

-

The war goes on, and one weekend, when everything is too much- when Douglas hears the news of Daniel's death, and he can't contain the sobs- he breaks down in a lab that was supposed to help his new family become heroes.

Two of his sons are dead, and his daughter and other son are fighting him in a war he doesn't truly believe in. He can't seem to find a point to any of this, to the death and the destruction and the grief. 

So he goes out to the old lair and finds Marcus's old parts in the wreckage.

Back in the day, Douglas had gotten really attached to Marcus. He'd always wanted to be a father, and even in his early supervillain days- in the days when Krane was leaving him mostly to his own devices- Douglas had been trying his best to be a father in whatever way he could. He didn't have any of his four children, and so he'd built himself a weapon and a son in one piece.

Now, there is a war and Douglas doesn't need a weapon. He just wants a family who isn't fighting and isn't killing and isn't  _dead_. He just wants one child who gets to have a semi-normal life (well, as normal as a Davenport can get).

So, he rebuilds Marcus, piece by piece, in the lab in the mansion that Donald never enters anymore (Donald is always at the Elite Force Headquarters, or organizing auxiliary forces on the former Bionic Island) it is only Tasha, little Kayla, or Douglas at the mansion most days. Douglas doesn't know entirely why Donald refuses to enter the mansion lab, but he's not going to complain. It just gives Douglas more room to work on creating one good thing to give the world.

Douglas programs Marcus similar to the old one, with just slightly more benevolent programming (not enough to change his personality too much, but enough to remove the desire to hurt/kill other humans) but does some key changes to his hardware. Douglas takes out the bionic abilities and it increases Marcus's battery life- his life expectancy- by over fifteen years.

This is one son Douglas won't fuck up with. Marcus isn't going to be a villain or a hero- he is going to have as normal a life as an android kid can have. He is going to have the life Adam, Bree, Chase, and Daniel could never have had.

- 

Marcus opens his eyes one day, five years into a war Douglas can't find a reason to fight in anymore. "Dad?" he asks, and Douglas gives him an exhausted smile.

"I'm here, son. Welcome home."

Marcus smiles, and Douglas doesn't know what memories he has, but something about his smile makes Douglas want to pull him into a hug and never let his brother get his hands on Marcus ever again. So he  _does_ pull Marcus into a hug, and Marcus hugs back.

And for a moment, Douglas has a child that is all okay.

-

The war ends, and Douglas starts to help out with the new-old team again. He can't help but let his eyes drift to the empty spots, the gaps in the team. Where Daniel, Spin, Chase, and Kaz used to stand, there is no one save a young woman with a gorgeous voice and another broken heart.

He offers his help with the tech because without Chase, they no longer have someone to help the new and improved Elite Force take care of superheroes and humans alike.

(And besides, now that Donald is refusing to talk to the kids for whatever reason- pride, some fucked up sense of justice, Douglas doesn't really think he can stay on the Davenport Industries payroll.)

He doesn't introduce the new Marcus to the team, though. Marcus is going to school in the county, and living at an apartment that Douglas rented out for the two of them- Douglas works with the team in the mornings and goes home every night. Eventually, he'll introduce the new Marcus to them. But right now, when he can't stop seeing the ghosts, the missing pieces, the sons dead and gone. And he can't let Marcus near that.

-

Douglas sees strange things going down in Ohio, a few towns away from where Bree takes down one of the shifters that captured Kaz and Chase.

He sends Adam and Alex after the culprits- the energy signatures and witness notes denote a low-level criminal, if that, and Adam and Alex are all that's necessary to take the criminal down- then sits back and monitors the comms. It should be just a routine mission.

(Of course, Douglas should have remembered what happened the last time he thought it was just a 'routine mission.')

They defeat the criminal, and then go to survey that area. Then, a moment later, they comm in to him with information that-

Douglas can't believe his eyes. He just can't. He actually takes the tablet to Marcus, who's sitting at the table practicing his lines, and has Marcus read off the words that say "Chase is alive. We're bringing him home."

And he prays to a god he never believed in that Chase comes out less damaged than Kaz, that there is some way that his nephew- his _son_ , so bitter and damaged and wonderful- somehow has a path to a happy ending.

(Because Douglas doesn’t think he could bear it otherwise.)

**Author's Note:**

> Second chapter is much happier than the first.


End file.
